Minnesota Twins' Top 10 Moments of 2014 [VIDEO]

Twins Video

On Sunday, August 3, the Twins decimated the Chicago White Sox 16-3. Within the offensive binge, Chris Parmelee, Oswaldo Arcia and Eric Fryer went back-to-back-to-back -- the first time the team had done so since July 12, 2001 when Doug Mintkiewicz, Corey Koskie and Torii Hunter took Brewers’ pitcher Jimmy Haynes deep at Miller Park. It would be the first (and last apparently) time this would happen with Ron Gardenhire as the Twins’ manager.

While the feat is impressive it was the reaction of the fan that receives this mention. During Parmelee’s home runs, this guy -- who appears to have an onlooking lady companion with him -- hops the rail in the party porch in pursuit of the ball but fails to stick the landing.

http://i.imgur.com/P9uFBD2.gif

(via Twins Daily)

Reminder: They’re baseballs, people. Yarn, wrapped with dead horse and held together with red stitches. Just baseballs.

Yeah, slides are not normally warrant a mention but after this throw beat Kurt Suzuki to the plate, the Twins’ catcher performs some sleight-of-hand, somehow got around a diving Salvador Perez and slapped his hand on the dish for the run.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/58339045a8293974408ffc0e5a55447a/tumblr_nafh69I5OQ1rrei7qo1_400.gif

(via TwinsBaseball.Tumblr.com)

I mean, compare that technique to Kendrys Morales who apparently went to the school for kids who can’t slide good and want to learn other things too:

http://i.imgur.com/sPsdyam.gif

Both Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas made their major league debuts with the Twins in 2014 and both contributed offensively right away. Here are their first Major League hits:

(via @cjzero)

Vargas has been very good since joining the Minnesota Twins, specifically at hitting baseballs hard. During the series in Oakland, Vargas hit a ball that was registered at 120 miles an hour off the bat. That, according to Trackman’s 100,000 batted ball database, was the hardest hit ball ever. EVER.

Because of this ability, it must be quite worrisome to have to play third base when he smashes pitches down the line. Oakland's Josh Donaldson narrowly avoided getting cut in half by a Vargas one-hopper and, once the ball clears, he double-checks to make sure he's "all there".

http://i.imgur.com/57KEbRB.gif

"One, two...three...OK, good to go."

The 23-year-old Arcia proved to be loaded with power -- as evidenced by his 20 home runs -- but he also had tendencies to be mired in slumps. He had been in the midst of a .173 stretch in July with a butt-load of strikeouts when he decided to take the frustration out on his bat.

Splinters ensue.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--tAzFTjHv--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/zeqdpy5ynjvtrsrt90qp.gif

(via Deadspin.com)

But he can destroy baseballs too.

According to HitTrackerOnline.com, a site that measures “true distance” of a player’s home run, said that he whalloped 10 No-Doubt bombs. No-Doubts are shots that clear the fence by 20 vertical feet and land at least 50 feet past the wall. Much like this one that ricochet off the flagpole at Target Field:

(via @cjzero)

In general, 27% of a player’s home runs fall in that category. For Arcia, half of his home runs were No-Doubts. Big time power.

I don’t know. Closers have to stay up really late, I guess.

(via @cjzero)

Find moments 1 through 5 on the next page.

During July 30th game in Kansas City, the Royals' large catcher Salvador Perez launched a run-scoring double to the left-center gap.

Phil Hughes, the Twins pitcher on the mound at the time, apparently thought it was a hot shot back up the middle and reacted accordingly to an imaginary baseball.

http://i.imgur.com/EybjiMT.gif

(via Twins Daily)

Some speculated on Twitter that Hughes was actually baiting the runner on base into thinking the ball was in the infield, but Hughes made it clear that he did not have a clue where that ball was.

http://i.imgur.com/Kowo32P.gif

Because of curious personnel decisions made in spring training and underperformance by Aaron Hicks, the Twins were relegated to using several infielders in the outfield. This did not always look pretty:

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Oy.

Brian Dozier’s conversion to second base has solidified an infield position in which the Twins had troubles finding a long-term answer. Statistically, he was not near the top of the list in the advanced metrics. Baseball Info Solution’s Plus/Minus statistic does not have him in the top 10 for second basemen this year while Ultimate Zone Rate has him rated 14th in the position.

But numbers are for nerds. Baseball is played on the field, not spreadsheets, bro.

Dozier has shown some flashy defense and was a league-leader in the most glove-flip assists -- as demonstrated by the clips below:

http://33.media.tumblr.com/0d71f7277360cf5691f2b5ac3076ae08/tumblr_nbz1h95blU1rrei7qo1_500.gif

http://38.media.tumblr.com/b71916445995fb575109c4c2d2f3d592/tumblr_n4vi01F2zH1rrei7qo1_500.gif

(via TwinsBaseball.Tumblr.com)

Yeah, this is tough to stomach. The game’s top prospect, in his first start in center at Double-A, goes headlong after fly ball only to meet with teammate Mike Kvasnicka in the gap. The result was a concussion that could have been exponentially worse.

(via @cjzero)

For the remainder of his minor league development, would it be OK to cover him in bubblewrap?

At first glance, this play seems innocuous enough. It appears to be a center field (Aaron Hicks) taking charge of a fly ball from a right fielder (Chris Colabello). There is a little bump and grind as the ball is brought safely down to Earth but otherwise, what’s the big deal, right?

http://i.imgur.com/EPbRq8T.gif

But take a look where Hicks was when the ball came off of the bat to where he made the catch:

According to Inside Edge’s data, the play fell within the 40-to-60% likelihood of being converted, and, sure, there is some hang-time on the Royals’ Mike Moustakas’ fly but that is some impressive coverage from a center fielder who also had to contend with a giant linebacker in Colabello.